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The Craziest Bus In the World
Blog: Hole In The Donut - 29 June 2011
I arrived at the bus station in Vientiane, Laos, bound for Pakse in the southern part of the country via an overnight bus. In the dark parking lot the sign on the double-decker bus brilliantly declared: “Sleeping Bus.” I expected seats that reclined but was surprised by a triple tier of double beds stretching down [...]
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Glutton for a Day in Vientiane, Laos
Blog: Hole In The Donut - 28 June 2011
As a single woman who spends most of her time on the road, it’s no surprise that I don’t cook. I rarely stay in accommodations with kitchen facilities and even if I did, it would be too expensive to buy all the spices and staples needed to prepare a decent meal. But though I rarely [...]
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The Sleepy Capital City of Vientiane, Laos
Blog: Hole In The Donut - 23 June 2011
Unlike the ancient capital city of Luang Prabang, whose 32 temples coerce visitors into hurry-up mode, the current capital of Vientiane encourages a leisurely pace. Here the brown Mekong River, virtually hidden behind a high earthen berm that protects the town during annual monsoon flooding, flows sluggishly past parks and small, exquisite temples that dot [...]
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Photo of the Week – The Monks of Luang Prabang
Blog: The Travel Project - 18 June 2011
Photo of the Week - The Monks of Luang Prabang. Luang Prabang is a place that relaxes the soul, inspires spirituality and bountifully rewards the traveller in the land of a million elephants.
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The Secret War in Laos is My Country’s Shame
Blog: Hole In The Donut - 17 June 2011
My first inkling that Phonsavan, Laos was not the sleepy little town it first appeared to be came when I walked past a row of rusty old bombs standing on the sidewalk outside Craters Restaurant. Curiosity and my growling stomach led me inside, where the owner was just putting on a documentary about the U.S. [...]
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How to Buy a Chicken with a Pig on the Side
Blog: Hole In The Donut - 13 June 2011
Hoping to get a better feel for the local culture during my short stay in Phonsavan, Laos I went in search of a fresh market. I found it just off the main road near the center of town, a large open-air shed where scores of vendors had set up stalls stacked high with fresh produce, [...]
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Of Ants and Giants
Blog: Hole In The Donut - 6 June 2011
I gazed down on hundreds of giant stone vessels scattered across the fertile Plain of Jars and thought of ants. Some lay crazily canted, as if abandoned in haste by an ancient race of giants whose dinner had suddenly been interrupted by invaders. Like ants to whom humans are invisible, I imagined that the jars [...]
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Three Rainy Days in Nong Khiaw, Laos
Blog: Hole In The Donut - 2 June 2011
Though the rainy season was months away, angry gray skies threatened on the morning I was scheduled to travel from Luang Prabang to Nong Khiaw, Laos. As if trying to outrun the impending rain, our maniacal mini van driver sped full bore through packs of children walking to school, straddling the center line as he [...]
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On The Seventh Day in Luang Prabang I Was Reborn as a Traveler
Blog: Hole In The Donut - 30 May 2011
On my seventh day in Luang Prabang, I rested. For the past week I’d rushed around, visiting temples and museums, attending cultural events and scouring the night market. Finally, satisfied that I had seen all the most important sites that the historic town had to offer, I plopped down at a street side table in [...]
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Sucker for Street Food
Blog: Hole In The Donut - 27 May 2011
Some travelers wouldn’t even think about eating street food while traveling overseas but I salivate at the prospect. In Bangkok, I snack throughout the day from vendors that line the major avenues and in Pokhara, Nepal I patronize steel food carts that prepare everything from Tibetan momos (similar to Chinese dumplings or pot stickers) to [...]
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The Royal Ballet Theatre of Luang Prabang, Laos – A Cultural Miracle Under a Communist Regime
Blog: Hole In The Donut - 24 May 2011
The Royal Ballet Theatre troupe in Luang Prabang achieved the impossible on the evening I attended a performance of Phra Lak Phra Lam, the Lao version of the sacred poem known as the Ramayana. Dancers in monkey masks sat on their haunches, scratching the backs of their necks. Tall men wearing hawk-billed masks and elaborate [...]
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Speedboats on the Mekong – Have You Been Here?
Blog: Vagobond.com - 24 May 2011
This particular day, I loaded into a banana boat with a couple of villagers and a crazy captain and we flew down the river at death defying speeds. It was a thrill ride as you can see from the smiles.
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All Rice Cakes Are Not Created Equal
Blog: Hole In The Donut - 21 May 2011
I’ve eaten my fair share of diet foods over the years (I tipped the scales at 275 pounds at one point) but by far the worst was rice cakes. Hoping to make them more palatable, I envisioned a svelte, sexy body each time I chomped into one but they always just tasted like cardboard. Rice [...]
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In Luang Prabang, All That Glitters Is Gold
Blog: Hole In The Donut - 19 May 2011
After the final packets of biscuits and dollops of sticky rice had been dropped into the monks’ pots during Luang Prabang’s daily alms giving ceremony, I followed the saffron robed procession through the rear gate of Wat Xieng Thong. A bold sun rode majestically into a robin’s egg sky, igniting the gilt facade of the [...]
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Lao Village Concert – Have You Been Here?
Blog: Vagobond.com - 16 May 2011
In Maung Singh they were having a concert and plenty of happy people were watching and dancing.
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Earning Merit on the Path to Nirvana in Luang Prabang, Laos
Blog: Hole In The Donut - 14 May 2011
In the grainy gray light just before dawn I stole from my suite at the Luang Say Residence and walked the silent streets of Luang Prabang to witness Binthabhat, the daily practice of giving alms to monks. I was conflicted over this event. As a photographer I desperately wanted to take photos of the spiritual [...]
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Luang Prabang TOP 5
Blog: photito's blog - 11 May 2011
Once you’ve mastered the skill of pronouncing the tongue twisting name of LUANG PRABANG, you can indulge in what this gem of a place has to offer. Deep in the north western parts of Laos, you find this stunning place which nature has adorned with not only one, but two meandering rivers. However, Luang Prabang [...]
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Living in the Lap of Luxury at Luang Say Residence in Luang Prabang, Laos
Blog: Hole In The Donut - 9 May 2011
The white yacht that had so majestically delivered me from northern Thailand into Laos pulled into Luang Prabang on day two and was immediately assaulted by a pack of urchins who crawled through the windows and battled over our luggage. My instincts were not fast enough; before I knew it a disheveled boy barely larger [...]
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Blessing of String and Sticky Rice: Day One in Ban Natane
Blog: Lonely Girl Travels - 7 May 2011
The man held my open palm in his. In it, he placed a small clump of sticky rice and pork. He raised his right hand to his face, murmured blessings in a language I didn’t understand. He waved a piece of string, then tied it around my wrist. “He wishes you good health, good luck,” [...]
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Bananas and Plastic Bows: Sawng Thaew to Kong Lo Cave
Blog: Lonely Girl Travels - 6 May 2011
Salt-and-pepper hair beneath a worn military cap, high cheekbones and pursed lips. He squeezes the bananas I’m clutching through their plastic bag, says something in Lao. I smile, shake my head. He repeats; I repeat. He nods. I can’t tell if he approves of the bananas or not. When I climbed on the sawng thaew [...]
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Scrap Metal and Tourist Scars in Phonsavan
Blog: Lonely Girl Travels - 3 May 2011
On a small stand in the Phonsavan tourism office, bracelets are for sale. So is flatware. They sit beside a postcard that reads “Make Spoons Not War.” Beside cartoon posters depicting the Dos and Don’ts of respectable Lao tourism, posted leaflets encourage you to purchase items made by villages out of metal scraped from the [...]
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Cruising the Mighty Mekong from Pakbeng to Luang Prabang, Laos
Blog: Hole In The Donut - 29 April 2011
Though I resisted the idea of climbing out of my cloud-soft king size bed and leaving Luang Say Lodge, my cruise boat beckoned for a second day of sailing down the mighty Mekong River in Laos. As the captain expertly piloted our white yacht through rippling rapids encased by jagged rocks, I swayed with the [...]
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April 25: Sobreity and Getting Stolen From
Blog: Lonely Girl Travels - 29 April 2011
Vientiane, April 25th: it was one of those perfect days. Until I found the money missing. April 25th is my sobriety birthday, the day I get to think to myself—”This is the number of years my life has been getting better.” This year was eleven. Eleven years of slowly, sometimes painfully, learning to live in [...]
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Bribery at the Border (And Other Crazy Shit)
Blog: Lonely Girl Travels - 27 April 2011
[This is a long one, guys. Grab a cup of Lao coffee and settle in...] A comb-over and a white shirt, the man moved slowly through the bus aisle. “Passport for border crossing,” he announced, gathering a stack of booklets from the bleary-eyed Westerners filling the seats. “$5,” he told me as I went to [...]
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Not Your Typical Slow Boat to Laos
Blog: Hole In The Donut - 24 April 2011
Over the years I’d heard all the horror stories about crossing from northern Thailand into Laos and taking a slow boat to Luang Prabang. Each day hundreds of travelers cross the Mekong River and join the crush at Lao Immigration, where they wait to be stamped into the country. Once approved, they’re herded like cattle [...]
